One of the most undeniable memories of Decatur for me is the smell produced from the Staley corn processing plant! When the wind is just right, the odor can travel for miles! I swear many times commuting from Champaign, you could start to smell it from the Cisco exit which is about 12-15 miles away! Or the mornings when you wake in the summertime having left the windows open all night and that smell would be the first awareness of the day!
Staley's was bought out a few years ago but in my mind it will always be Staley's!
Any other thoughts about Stinky Staley's?
My dad was a proud Staley employee, and when we would point to the grey smelly smoke he would tell us it was steam. On the other hand, that stink meant Decatur, so that is how I knew I was close to home.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid we lived in one of the neighborhoods just south of Caterpillar. ADM to the east, Staley's to the south. Almost every weekend we would go down Hwy 51 to visit Grandma in Vandalia. On the trip back home, normally late in the evening, us kids half asleep in the back seat, we'd finish that trip back across the old Staley bridge. You'd hear the tires making the clunk clunk on the seams in the bridge, and smell the smell. You didn't need to open your eyes. You knew you were home.
DeleteWhat I remember the most is that while folks would talk about the smell - it was accepted as a fact of life in Decatur. No groups organized to shut down the plant to ease our noses or even to force Staley's to find a way to reduce the nose pollution. It was a great employer to the community and I think people just instinctively knew that and the smell was just something to put up with gladly.
ReplyDeleteMy next door neighbor worked at Staley's in the 50s and used to bring home yellow balls for me and my sisters to use to play jacks. They bounced really high and we called them "Staley balls". I believe they were used to bounce around in the corn meal to keep it from compacting.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely remember "Staley balls!" but never knew the use you mentioned! Thanks for the information on that!
ReplyDeleteDave
My grandfather and Uncle both worked at Staley's and when ever we complained about the smell I was told, "smells like money to me". And I can you that the original use of the Staley balls is as noted above yet in our family we suspended them from the rafters in the garage as to hit the windshield so that Mom wouldn't pull the car too far inside and take out the back wall!
ReplyDeleteA Staley ball was THE ball to use for playing jacks!!! No other ball would do.
ReplyDeleteTalk about memories, I found my set of jacks I used to play with back in the 1960's. However, my Staley ball was missing. Those jacks brought back so many great memories and the hours I sat in the driveway (or any slab of concrete that was available) playing. I was telling my husband about the amazing Staley Ball and how it was THE ball to play jacks with. I typed in Staley Balls into Google and found this site. There is always something comforting about sharing a common history. Thanks for sharing yor stories.
ReplyDeleteYes!! Wonderful Staley Balls!!! My dad was an attorney and had several clients that were Staley's employees, so he was able to get me one once in awhile. They were magical to me as a kid...and to this day have not found a ball that could bounce higher! I am hoping that whatever was in those balls was not something that we had on our dinner plates. Also, for the stinky stuff...living in the West End of Decatur, we would catch Staley's smell one night and that of the sanitation plant with a wind change. (can't say I miss either smells much) :)Bonna
ReplyDeleteWould you be Bonna Williams by chance? I also grew up in the West End and played jacks by the hour with my Staley Ball. If you lost it, you were devastated and had to find someone who's dad worked there.
DeleteCarole (Reeves) Snider
My great grandma lived in Decatur. We would drive from Ohio at least once a year. And we always knew we were close when we smelled that awful Staley's. Stinky but familiar, I kinda miss it and the memories it brought.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know if Staley Balls still exist? And if so, is there a way to get one? I would LOVE to have one again!!
ReplyDeleteNot sure, but I'm going there in July. If anyone knows it would be my sister. I found this site after
Deletetelling my girlfriend about staley balls. I wasn't sure she believed what I said about their amazing
bouncibility. This is a great place to remember old times as I was born here and attended Stephen
Decatur HS before wandering the world.
Jacks long gone but have a Staley Ball. Lost most of it's bounce..it is over 40 years old..still retains that funky yellow color.
ReplyDeleteMy next door neighbor worked at Staley's too. If someone commented on the smell, he'd say 'smells like bread and butter to me'. I still have one Staley ball with my old jacks. You couldn't play jacks properly with any other. I'd love to find more of them!
ReplyDeleteBy the time I was playing jacks, in the early 60s, Staley balls were dark red. I don't know how I got them, as no one in my family worked at the plant, but I always had several. They had a tendency to get less bouncy as they got older and were exposed to air. I heard once they were some sort of cleaning product used to clean the corn dryers. The balls would be placed into the dryers and as they bounced and spun around in the machines, they would collect whatever leftover stuff was in the dryers. I would suppose that process has been replaced, if not the whole dryer idea.
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit surprised no one has mentioned the beautiful colored lights on the Staley office building. Each evening, the lights would come on and began to change from one color to another as they lit up the building. That was our signal to come home. I also remember sitting on the porch and enjoying the summer evenings while the lights changed. (Sounds a bit like Mayberry now, doesn't it?)
That lovely Art Deco building was always one of my favorites in town. I still have a small conference table from the 40s that came from one of the offices...I use it as a desk.